1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a torque locking mechanism used in conjunction with casing manipulation systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of systems are employed wherein drilling or reaming operations are done using casing strings. In these systems, a drilling tool or reaming tool is mounted upon a casing string in order to drill a wellbore or to enlarge or smooth an existing wellbore. The casing string and mounted drilling/reaming tool is rotated by a rig top drive unit at the surface.
At times, these drilling or reaming tools can become stuck or require repositioning or manipulation from surface. In order to do this, a casing manipulation tool must be interconnected between the top drive unit and the casing string when the casing string needs manipulation. The casing manipulation tool allows the casing to be secured such that it can be pulled on, set down on and rotated. Casing manipulation tools are described in U.S. Pat. Publ. No. US 201210111556 by Palmer et al. and U.S. Pat. Publ. 2012/0125632 by Blair et al. Both of these references are owned by the assignee of the present application and are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. Typically, right-hand rotation provided by the top drive is used to set the slips of the casing manipulation tool to cause it to grip the casing string.